Thursday, May 5, 2016

Readers will see that Sue and I are back in Menorca again. After a wet, miserable winter and a cool spring we are here to relax and take in some Mediterranean sunshine and to meet friends old and new.

I put together some pictures which feature Menorca and the birdlife
found here in May, the quiet month with fewer visitors and the month
that Menorca opens for business. "Click the pics" to visit Menorca.

Menorca in the Mediterranean Sea

Maybe it’s the boomerang shape of the island which gets us coming back for more each year? The picture taken from Google Earth uses the traditional English spelling of “Minorca” but we prefer to use the Catalan or Spanish spelling of “Menorca”, a name which originates from the Latin meaning of "smaller island”.

Menorca may be small but it is perfectly formed and not plagued by much of the grotty development of its sister islands of Majorca or Ibiza. An essentially rural island, Menorca features rolling fields, wooded ravines and bumpy hills filling out the interior between its two main – but still notably small centres of population, Maó and Ciutadella. Much of the landscape looks pretty much as it did at the turn of the twentieth century, and only around the edges of the island, and then only in parts, have the rocky coves been colonized by hotel and villa complexes. Much of the farming on Menorca is still carried out in traditional, sustainable ways.

Stuart is right, you should move there. Then we could all come and visit. We wouldn't be too demanding - fresh bread, a little vino tinto and guided birding expeditions. Not much to expect from a fellow birder - especially one who has enjoyed Canada's hospitality in the past. Having experienced the spartan conditions of the Long Point bunkhouse you would obviously wish to do better for your birding chums. Don't think about it too long, Phil. Put a down payment on a villa while you are there.